In a consideration of the prior art of which he is well aware, a search of the Patent Office records resulted in finding Pat. Nos. to Farahany, No. 4,850,3349; Bronson, No. 4,327,720; Powell, No. 4,638,805; Lee, No. 2,813,531; Rosenberg, No. 4,645,490 and Chin, No. 4,696,304. More applicable art, though older than the art resulting from such Patent Office search, lies in two articles authored by the inventor hereof. These are: "The Stomach as a Cause of Difficulty in Intubating the Human Duodenum", SURGERY, St. Louis, vol. 24, No. 1, Pages 70-78, July 1948; and "Further Development of the Gastric Balloon to Facilitate Intestinal Intubation", SURGERY, St. Louis, vol 27, No. 2, Pages 245-253, Feb. 1950.
Neither the cited prior patent art nor do the articles by the inventor provide for the rapid and safe intubation of commonly useable diagnostic or therapeutic appliances which are positionable into the upper or lower bowel sections through either the anus or mouth and particularly through the stomach after introduction into the mouth.
Cancer of the bowel has a particular propensity for stealth in that by the time it manifests its presence by symptoms, it has reached a stage where removal does not guarantee a cure because of the possibility of having already spread to remote sites of the body. Detection at earliest stages is vital to a successful cure. For this reason the earliest asymptomatic stages must be detected in a symptom free population and thus a large number of persons must be examined. Examination must be rapid and thorough and therefore the inventor provides a system which, in one form, provides for intubation of suitable diagnostic appliances and which, in another form, provides for intubation of therapeutic devices.
To date, medical practice for detection of lower bowel abnormalities is carried out by injection of a radio-opaque solution through a catheter inserted in the anus to initially fill the bowel with examination carried out by X-ray imaging of the area with subjective interpretation by a skilled radiologist. Applicant's device allows for selective placement of the barium and a simple method of such placement. A more labor intensive and exact examination is made by sigmoidoscopy which, in the present state of the art, is carried out through use of a long, flexible and controllable optical sigmoidoscope. The instrument is passed through the anus and, under directed visual observation, using air injection and hand manipulation, advanced along the bowel so only the surface of the bowel can be directly, visually inspected by a skilled operator.
Neither of these methods provides rapid interrogation for presence of an abnormality beneath the surface of the passage.
Present devices for intubation, to the knowledge of the applicant, do not consider medicant placement nor do they consider selective evacuation.
It is a prime purpose of the applicant's invention to provide a means for rapidly and safely introducing an abnormality sensing device into internal human passages which will allow histological examination thereof in a rapid manner and which will not endanger nor damage the inner surface of the passage through such introduction.
It is a further object of the applicant's invention to provide a device for introduction of a histological abnormality sensing device into internal human passages such as the upper and lower bowel sections for systematic examination of the same upon insertion or withdrawal of the device.
It is still a further object of the applicant's invention to provide a device for examination of internal human passages which maintains an exposed sensing or examination head in a position within the passage to normally prevent contact with the inner surface thereof to prevent damage thereto
It is still a further object of the applicant's invention to provide a device which may be used in examination of either the upper or lowel bowel which is equally easily insertable through the mouth and through the stomach or through the anus.
It is a further object of the applicant's invention to provide a device for the rapid intubation of an operative appliance into human passages for medicant administration interiorally of the passage.
It is yet a further object of the applicant's invention to provide a device for rapid intubation of an operative appliance into human passages which may be utilized to act directly on the contents of the passage such as evacuation thereof.
These and other objects and advantages of the applicant's invention will more fully appear from a consideration of the accompanying drawings and description.